From Average to Mr Sri Lanka: What Local Bodybuilding Champions Actually Eat and Train Like

This post is also available in:

In Sri Lanka, there is a person in every gym. The guy who can’t get his arm through the door. The person who walks in and the silence in the room. He was rumoured to be a contender for ‘Mr. Sri Lanka, or having trained for years to get on a national platform.

But not many people have any idea how they can get there. Most people believe that it is simply genetics and/or steroids. The reality is quite a bit more sobering and attainable.

This is what true Sri Lankan competitive bodybuilders really do.

It Starts With Years, Not Months

The single most common misconception about bodybuilding is the timeline. They will watch a competitor perform on stage and believe that it was accomplished in a couple of months of extreme dieting. That’s not the case for the majority of competitive bodybuilders in Sri Lanka, who take 3-5 years to build a base before going on stage.

This foundation period is termed the off-season. It’s not high profile. No dramatic before-and-after photos are taken at this stage. It’s consistent training, proper nutrition to promote growth and gradual, incremental muscle building gain over the course of years. Most contestants will say this part is the toughest part of being in a contest, since there is no time limit and no immediate reward; it is just discipline on a day-to-day basis with a long-term goal.

Part two of the series explores how the film was created: the process of building the raw material

The off-season takes place for a period of six to eight months or more, during which emphasis is purely on bulking up and strengthening. Heavy compound exercises (squats, deadlifts, bench press, and overhead press) are the focus of training at centres. The exercises engage the greatest amount of muscle fibres and elicit the strongest “growth” signal.

Diet in this phase is a calorie overfeeding, which means eating more calories than necessary. Sri Lankan athletes usually use rice, chicken, fish, eggs and dhal (a local staple bean that is easily available and inexpensive) to create this excess, as they are all rich in carbohydrates and protein. If a competitive bodybuilder is in this stage, he/she may be eating 5 to 6 meals a day and a lot more rice than a normal man.

At this time, sleep is a must. The vast majority of muscle repair and growth actually occurs during 8 hours of sleep and not while exercising, hence why most serious competitors put sleep at the top of the priority list.

Pre-Contest: The Slow and Painful Transformation

About 12 to 16 weeks before a competition, things change. The time when everyone thinks of bodybuilding is the time that the dramatic fat loss occurs, the muscle definition becomes visible, and disciplined eating habits start.

Training gradually moves to more reps and less rest and some cardio is introduced, sometimes no more than 20 minutes a couple of times a week, and slowly built up as competition nears. The idea is to lose fat while gaining the maximum muscle mass.

Eating habits become more rigid. Eating habits become more rigid. The weight loss is done in a gradual manner so it does not lead to a significant amount of muscle loss. Carbohydrates are gradually lowered over the weeks. This period is a mental challenge for many Sri Lankan participants; they feel like they are starving all the time, they miss out on social events and they have to discipline themselves not to stray from the plan even when everyone else is taking in a meal.

The stage where they either compete once or they are true fans of the sport. The physical aspect can be seen, but the mental durability is underestimated.

A week of science during the summer holidays

Peaking is a process that takes place the week before competition. Training is lightened up; you are not looking to add muscle at this stage of the year, just to maintain it and to prevent injury. Rising dramatically, as a presentation on stage is as important as physique.

The final week is carefully managed to make the muscles look as full and defined as possible, with a particular emphasis on diet and water. This is highly personal and, typically, facilitated by an experienced coach, as it can actually backfire and negatively affect a physique.

Most athletes have a small meal containing carbohydrates several hours before the event on the day of the competition, which is followed by a brief backstage pump-up set-up just before the event with a view of maximising muscle fullness under the lights.

What this means for the average Sri Lankan Gym-Goer

It’s not a competition; you don’t need to be competitive to learn from this approach. But the number one thing learned by competitive bodybuilders is that they require patience. They’re not expecting to see results after providing their home with fresh air after a week or two. They take their time, pay attention to what they are doing and have faith in a long-term process.

The basic idea is the same if you are training for general fitness; just do it on a smaller scale. Take time to establish a base through training and proper nutrition over the course of months before expecting spectacular results. Prioritise compound exercises. Think sleep is a part of your training, not in addition to it. Know that what you see on social media is not what you get.

If you want to learn more about this, you can watch these short videos on the Truth About Genetics and Hard Work

Genetics are a factor in bodybuilding; some individuals naturally make more muscle and build it more pleasingly. However, certain habits are essential for every competitive Sri Lankan bodybuilder, no matter how they are built, and those habits are years of consistent training, disciplined eating habits and adequate sleep to allow for proper recovery.

The difference between an average gymmer and a competitive one isn’t often a matter of superior genes. It’s about being there year after year, no matter what is going on, no one is watching, and no one is immediately rewarded.

The Bottom Line

It is not a matter of just a few extreme months to become a competitive bodybuilder in Sri Lanka. It involves years of patient training, a well-planned diet and the discipline to stick to it after the initial excitement has passed.

This mindset doesn’t require going on a stage. Be patient and consistent with your own objectives and you will be surprised by what your body can look like over time.

“Transformation is not a rapid process that can be achieved in a few weeks of intense effort. It occurs when people work consistently, boring, disciplined and no one knows about them until the good results finally come.”